cats

Crave giveaway: Giant ThunderCats gift package

Thunder is striking this week's giveaway with an all-ThunderCats-all-the-time gift package.

What is ThunderCats? Well, if you have to ask, this giveaway probably isn't for you. If you're a fan of the animated series, you'll be happy to find out the swag bag contains more than 20 ThunderCats action figures, plus a TCats baseball cap and T-shirt (that's a whole lot of ThunderCats paraphernalia).

The swag, worth $300, comes all wrapped up and ready to be, well, unwrapped.

The series--which follows the adventures of a team of catlike humanoid alien heroes from the planet Thundera--debuted in the '80s and recently got reimagined on the Cartoon Network. To celebrate the finale of the series, Warner Bros. rolled out 11 characters and villains in a Facebook app that lets fans transform their photos into their own ThunderCat and share the new feline look with the world.

So how do you try to win this week's prize to add even more ThunderCats to your life? Let me enumerate the basic rules. Please read them carefully; there will be a test. Hoooo! … Read more

Sega Dreamcast classic ChuChu Rocket now on Android

In ChuChu Rocket, your objective is to guide hordes of frantic mice (ChuChus) to their rocket ship by dropping arrowed tiles on the ground. As the mice move about the screen, simply swipe in front of them to drop a tile and point them in a direction to run. While the game may not sound very difficult, there are, in fact, an assortment of obstacles and an army of evil cats that very well could have you pulling your hair out by level 10.

There are three different game modes to choose from in ChuChu Rocket: Puzzle, Challenge, and Battle. … Read more

Crave 66: Put this on your head (podcast)

Donald and Eric discuss the latest innovations in head-mounted technology, including animatronic cat heads.

Also, the future has your organic-honey needs taken care of, and Eric runs through Geek News highlights, including the 3D technology behind "The Hobbit" and a Victoria's Secret nod to comic book geeks.

Subscribe in iTunes SD Video | Subscribe in RSS SD Video … Read more

Got any cheese?

Pull back, aim for the cheese, then hit the cat. That's pretty much all you have to remember to play this unique, addictive, and whimsical platform game.

In Bouncy Mouse, you are the colorful, cheese-loving protagonist. Your special power? An elastic, prehensile tail. With it, you can sling yourself to and from the small knobs strategically placed throughout each level, and earn points by picking up as many pieces of cheese as you can along the way. Also, thanks to your round, rubbery exterior, you can bounce your way to hard-to-reach pieces of cheese and even bounce yourself out … Read more

Crave 61: Romancing the dark side (podcast)

This week, Donald and Eric consider the future of space, the dark side of romance, and the proper way to dispose of AT-AT excrement. Also, the Keyboard Cat toy plays us out, and in Geek News, Eric confesses his deep hatred of Orcs.

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Internet cat star Maru to grace the printed page

Some people like reading fiction. Some people like reading biographies of historical figures. The new biography book, "I am Maru," should cover both bases.

The book, which originally came out in Japan in 2009, is finally arriving in the U.S. this month. As with most cool Japanese things, it took awhile.

In case you've actually been working and don't know about Maru, I'll give you a primer. Maru is a pudgy Japanese cat who likes to jump into boxes. I know that doesn't sound like much, but you have to see him in YouTube action to understand the appeal. Maru regularly racks up 500,000 to 2 million hits per video.… Read more

Bunnies! Puppies! Kitties!

2cute is a free, ad-supported app that lets you browse, download, and share images from the 2cute Web site--images that are empirically very cute (or as the app points out, in Japanese, "kawaii") of puppies, kittens, bunnies, and more. You can browse through large thumbnails of the pictures just by swiping left and right, and you can tap to rate, share, or download a normal or high-resolution version of the photo.

Flipping through the photos on 2cute is fun (with an occasional surprise, like a baby octopus or pygmy marmoset), and this app provides a great and easy … Read more

Amuse shelter cats with online remote-control toys

I'm writing this article with a large rescue cat draped across my keyboard (yes, it's hard to type). Not every feline is as fortunate to have a home.

Animal shelters have tried out kitty Webcams to boost adoption rates. AprioriControl is raising the bar with iPet Companion, interactive online kitten playrooms that put viewers in control of feathery, flighty, and fluffy cat toys.

The kitty playrooms are currently up and running at shelters in Idaho, Iowa, and Oregon. I stopped off at the site for the Clinton Humane Society in Iowa where kittens named Dori, Nemo, Marlin, and Bruce rolled, tumbled, and attacked the remote-control toys.

Each shelter determines certain play hours. You may end up in a short queue when you drop by to play with the furry critters. The toys are attached to motors. Push the button on your browser to make them dance and whirl.

When it's your turn, you also control the direction of the Webcam. A live chat box lets you join in all the ooing and cooing from other users. You'll see gems like: "they r sooo cute lookit the kittys look it look it." It's easy to turn into a pile of text-speak mush when you're watching kittens play.… Read more

The 404 876: Where 92 percent of our hosts are fake (podcast)

Which would you rather give up for a week, your toothbrush or your iPhone? We welcome CNETer Kenley Bradstreet back on the show today to help us answer this hypothetical question and more.

Of course, Joey Kaminski is here, too, and we have a minefield of a story rundown to test his self-control, such as a nail polish inspired by bruises and bodily fluids, a world-record-breaking attempt going down tomorrow on the corner of Seaman and Dyckman Streets, and a report that 92-percent of Newt Gengrich's 1.3 million Twitter followers are actually robots.

The 404 Digest for Episode 876

Nail polish names inspired by bruises and blood. Report: 92 percent of Newt Gingrich's Twitter Followers Aren't Real. iPhone users would trade shoes, sex for phone. N.Y. lingerie shop to break world record for simultaneous breastfeeding. No lasers were harmed in the scanning of these cats.

Episode 876 Subscribe in iTunes (audio) | Subscribe in iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more